Blog
News, analysis, comment and updates from ICLR's case law and UK legislation platform
This year has seen the government mount a two-pronged attack aimed at reducing the cost of legal aid, by introducing measures to reduce spending on both criminal and civil legal aid. Last week, following a heated summer of discontent from the legal profession, its proposals in relation to criminal legal aid, based on the introduction of… Continue reading
At the end of last month the Quality Assurance Scheme for Advocates got the go-ahead from Legal Standards Board, the über-regulator of law professions. In a series of posts we’ve looked at what this means for barristers and other professional advocates. In this third post we look at some of the main criticisms levelled at… Continue reading
Last week we reported that the Legal Services Board had finally given the green light to the Quality Assurance Scheme for Advocates (QASA), and looked at the background to this scheme, proposed by the Joint Advocacy Group, to ensure that advocates from different sectors of the legal profession (whether barristers, solicitors or legal executives) conform… Continue reading
Legal professionals are subject to no fewer than SEVEN professional regulators, whose names and functions are often referred to in a bewildering Scrabble tray of acronyms and abbreviations. Apart from (1) the BSB which deals with barristers, (2) the SRA which deals with solicitors, and (3) the IPS which deals with legal executives and paralegals,… Continue reading
Earlier this week the Legal Services Board finally approved the Quality Assurance Scheme for Advocates, the first phase of which will begin on 30 September 2013. In a series of linked posts, we set out the pros and cons of QASA and examine its relationship to PCT and LASPO. (Unfortunately, the regulatory framework of the… Continue reading
When you’re doing a job you hate, what makes it even worse is when everyone else seems to be out enjoying themselves. All the more so when the sun is shining and worse still a few of your good friends are emailing you photos of their latest catch from your local river whilst you’re sitting… Continue reading
HeadClerk called an emergency Chambers Meeting yesterday. “I’m afraid that we need a bit of a shake-up of our practice structure.” A general groan before OldSmoothie said, “Yes, yes. Time for us all to work harder and bring in a few more solicitors.” “Quite the contrary,” said HeadClerk. “In the light of the government’s proposed… Continue reading
A team from ICLR will be walking the walk, literally, and with as much sponsorship as we can muster from all our generous supporters, to raise money for the very good cause of providing legal advice to those who really need it at a time when public legal funding is being savagely cut. The walk… Continue reading
In a recent Commercial case Standard Bank plc v Via Mat International Ltd [2013] EWCA Civ 490 the Court of Appeal drew attention to Khader v Aziz (Note) [2010] 1 WLR 2673, reiterated its warning against the unnecessary length of skeleton arguments and reminded parties of the possibility of the sanction of adverse costs orders.… Continue reading
Sometimes I really think that the supposedly cleverest people in the world are in fact the most stupid. A case which came before me last week illustrates this point perfectly. It started life as an uncomplicated personal injury matter which should have settled out of court many years ago. But instead what happened was that… Continue reading
